Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Explore the fraudulent and destructive arithmetic of the money system that holds us hostage to a forever growing debt. If you want to know the money system, this is all you need to know, and even a 10 year old could grasp it.

‘In Transition’ is the first detailed film about the Transition movement filmed by those that know it best, those who are making it happen on the ground. The Transition movement is about communities around the world responding to peak oil and climate change with creativity, imagination and humour, and setting about rebuilding their local economies and communities. It is positive, solutions focused, viral and fun.

Opposite a popular club car park in a back lane in Enmore, Sydney, a herb fence has been created from discarded or very low cost materials. This will not only provide fresh herbs for the people living in the house, but also something to think about for the many people who walk down the lane.

In this short clip from the "Establishing a Food Forest" DVD, join Geoff Lawton at the Permaculture Research Institute in Australia as he explains the benefits of weeds in a recovering landscape. For more information about Geoff and the Permaculture Research Institute, including details on how to purchase the full length DVD, please visit: http://www.permaculture.org.au

NC State University provides over 40 hours of FREE video lectures on permaculture. Truly an invaluable resource for all those interested in experiencing a permaculture course. Watch the entire course online. Brand new and updated. Thoroughly recommended.

Peak Moment 171: Bill Wilson and Wayne Weiseman pour their hearts into their permaculture design courses, changing lives as well as landscapes. In a unique format, students do initial course work online and then attend a one week hands-on course. In this chat along with Sivananda Yoga Farm sponsor Vidya Chaitanya, Wayne discusses principles starting with with observing elements like wind, water, sun and topography in a specific property. Bill provides alarming information on "peak soil". Together they note that permaculture's goal is to create small, intensive ecologies, a foodweb where everything is exchanging with everything else. Eat and Be Eaten, and Share the Bounty.

In this insightful presentation, met with a standing ovation at the 2007 Earth Transformation Conference, Editor of Anastasia and the Ringing Cedars Series reveals the potential of Russia's permaculture gardening movement to change our world.

Despite a millennium of harsh oppression, Russian families preserved a unique traditional lifestyle grounded in self-sufficiency and self-reliance. They now show a path to a more fulfilling, independent, connected, and mortgage-free existence. As millions of people worldwide start to embrace these ideas, humanity may now be entering the age of harmony and peace. But the ultimate result of this global transformation depends on you.

The impossible hamster was created to teach us about economic growth. A new animation from nef (the new economics foundation), scripted by Andrew Simms, numbers crunched by Viki Johnson and pictures realised by Leo Murray.

www.neweconomics.org

www.onehundredmonths.org

www.wakeupfreakout.org

www.impossiblehamster.org

Here's what they said about their fabulous creation:
We wanted to confront people with the meaning and logical conclusion of the promise of endless economic growth. We used a hamster to illustrate what would happen if there were no limits to growth because they double in size each week before reaching maturity at around 6 weeks. But if a hamster grew at the same rate until its first birthday, wed be looking at a nine billion tonne hamster, which ate more than a years worth of world maize production every day. There are reasons in nature, why things dont grow indefinitely. As things are in nature, sooner or later, so they must be in the economy. As economic growth rises, we are pushing the planet ever closer to, and beyond some very real environmental limits. With every doubling in the global economy we use the equivalent in resources of all of the previous doublings combined.

This is infact three short (about 15 minutes) documentaries! 1) Robert Hart's Forest Garden Find out loads anout what forest gardening is, and how to make your own! 2)Edible Landscapes Second is an amazing case study about Rural Permaculture in Britain, showcasing loads of amazing edible plants adn aquaculture and flowers, as well as fantastic medicinal plants. Look out for a cure for female infertility that's dropped in here! 3) Urban Permaculture This is a brilliant and inspiring documentary of permaculture techniques used effectively in an urban back garden. WIth little more than 2 hours of work a week, this couple produce about a fifth of their food intake!

Entrepreneurial mycologist Paul Stamets seeks to rescue the study of mushrooms from forest gourmets and psychedelic warlords. The focus of Stamets' research is the Northwest's native fungal genome, mycelium, but along the way he has filed 22 patents for mushroom-related technologies, including pesticidal fungi that trick insects into eating them, and mushrooms that can break down the neurotoxins used in nerve gas.

There are cosmic implications as well. Stamets believes we could terraform other worlds in our galaxy by sowing a mix of fungal spores and other seeds to create an ecological footprint on a new planet.

This is a 30 short film showcasing some truly stunning homes, using natural building materials that are not only low maintenance but are built from sustainable sources and much more energy efficient. Their insulation qualities are far superior to homes built from conventional materials.If you're looking at inspiration to get your ideas going for a home you'd like to build, watch this. A home should be as much a product of your own imagination as the contents it houses. As one comment from the film states:"In a time, with a much stronger individual consciousness; it is even more important that [the individual consciousness], is somehow reflected in the buildings, and the spaces in which we live in. It may be through art, or the way we design, or the way we build; but if we just use the materials or whatever is on the shelf, we kind of limit ourselves to that; and I think that these homes, they show that you can do so much more.It's letting our own creativity be a part of this whole process, and that in the end, it becomes a true reflection of ourselves."

"The One-Straw Revolution is one of the founding documents of the alternative food movement, and indispensable to anyone hoping to understand the future of food and agriculture." - Michael Pollan

"Fukuoka's do-nothing approach to farming is not only revolutionary in terms of growing food, but it is also applicable to other aspects of living, (creativity, child-rearing, activism, career, etc.) His holistic message is needed now more than ever as we search for new ways of approaching the environment, our community and life. It is time for us all to join his 'non-movement.'" - Keri Smith author of How to be an Explorer of the World

The End of Suburbia is a must see documentary about peak oil, arguing that it spells a hard crash for the suburban dream. David Holmgren here offers a counterview, a vision of a radically retrofitted, food producing suburbia. David Holmgren is the co-originator of Permaculture.

Peak Moment 68: Take a tour with Joe, Doug and Sam Bullock on their Orcas Island homestead, site of a yearly Permaculture design course. Using nature as their model, they create edges and wildlife habitat, move water through the landscape, promote diversity, and raise an astonishing variety of plants from sub-arctic to tropical -- a wise investment in these climate-changing times.

An educational video on no-till synergistic gardening that describes the step-by-step processes developed by Emilia Hazelip to create an ecological agriculture. She became interested in Fukuoka's work in 1977 and this video shows the cultural and climatological adaptations she has developed in the course of years of research. A synergistic garden is an ecosystem that is consciously designed to allow all the dynamic life forms present in a wild soil to remain present while still growing crops (on whatever scale). It is that simple. But that's not the view commonly held in the sphere of science or in the politics of agribusiness which rule France. Emilia exclaims passionately: "The living world is not understood by the technician, and since it is not understood, it is not studied for its diversity. People always want to apply mechanical laws to it." Very practical, highly recommended

A 16 page summary of permaculture concept and principles taken from Permaculture Principles and Pathways Beyond Sustainability by David Holmgren.

It contains an introduction to permaculture, thoughts about the future of the movement and the values and use of the permaculture principles. A great way to expand your knowledge in preparation for the full length book.

In this 75 minute production, filmmaker, Jocelyn Demers meets Dan Jason on Salt Spring Island, Canada's west coast. Dan is an organic gardener with a fantastic selection of seeds, vegetables, grains, medicinal plants and flowers. He is also the head of the grassroots organization called the Seed and Plant Sanctuary for Canada, a network of Canadian gardeners who are preserving as much plant diversity as is possible. Mr. Jason has been a long time critic of the non-organic food system in North America. Jocelyn Demers explores Dan's garden and seed world and investigates what other experts from the agriculture milieu think about Dan's observations. All 8 parts are recommended.

Co-originator of the permaculture concept, David Holmgren, presents the design principles as thinking tools that when used together allow us to creatively redesign our environment and our behaviour in a world of less energy and resources.

In This introductory video to Permaculture, Bill Mollison, the movements co-founder, takes the viewer through the history and developments of the movement. With startelingly laconic humour adn insight he deconstructs the modern agribusiness and the 'modern plague' : manicured ornamental lawns. In this video he offers an antidote, whihc is an anti-dote, which is an antidote to both our currently unsustainable practices AND our unsustainable culture. Both of these have to change, to adapt. Permanently. Here's how...

David Holmgren is co-originator (with Bill Mollison) of the permaculture concept and author of the recent book, PERMACULTURE: Principles and Pathways Beyond Sustainability. He talks about the need to move beyond the lulling hope that 'green tech' breakthroughs will allow world-wide 'sustainable consumption' to the recognition that dwindling oil supplies inevitably mean a mandatory 'energy descent' for human civilization across the planet. He argues that permaculture principles provide the best guide to a peaceful societal 'powering down."

The future is abundant, asserts permaculture designer Larry Santoyo. His vision of living in the present provides a wonderful antidote to fear about uncertain futures. People need to rediscover that we're part of the ecosystem, and apply permaculture design principles to the many problems we face. Larry teaches sustainable permaculture design as a discovery of the world around us. He notes that trying to be self-sufficient is really anti-permaculture. Instead, we need to develop self-reliance skills. Then as we find others in our communities to interact with, everybody gets to play! http://www.earthflow.com

Permaculture and Time with Geoff Lawton. In this Machinima animated short film, meet the virtual Geoff Lawton as he takes us on a visual journey from discovering a meaningful activity to an expanded perception of time.

Created by Astral Jester Films and produced by The PermaScience Team with the real life voice of International Permaculture Guru Geoff Lawton. All set to the cyber subtropical rainforest back drop of Northern New South Wales, Australia.

Thaddeus discusses the basics of the Permaculture vision for transforming a consumerist society into one that encourages everyone to produce some of their own needs.
This talk explains the permaculture ethics, history, worldwide movement, and local community efforts that are taking place right now.
Sustainable agriculture is discussed on both a farm and household scale with real world examples of permaculture installations and design principles found in the Midwest.
Perennial crops, the backbone of permaculture systems are shown as energy sources for fuel production.
The brand new concept of Financial Permaculture, the bringing together of natural systems thinkers with money systems thinkers is explained along with an example of how it would apply to one Michigan county.

In summer 2006 Judy Alexander embarked on an experiment to see how much food she could grow, and how many neighbors could benefit, from the garden around her house. Check out her homegrown rainwater collection and irrigation system - watering her 60+ edible crops. Meet the bees, the chickens and the worms. And catch her joy in producing so much food for so little effort.
From www.peakmoment.tv

Geoff Lawton "Tells it How It Is" and talks about the Jordan Project.
For more information about Geoff and his work you can visit www.permaculture.org.auPOST EDIT: I'm afraid this video has been marked as "Private" and I can't show it on this site, however you can still view it on YouTube. This is a recommended message from Geoff Lawton, so please, do follow this link and hear this idea:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QGyJj62vtF8

And they said it couldn't be done! This is inspiring, practical work - the kind of work that should be encouraged, supported and emulated worldwide. It is the ultimate root-cause type of aid work. It's the kind of thing that makes phrases like "Solidarity Not Charity" something to consider

Chickens are your much needed partners in controlling pests such as fruit fly when your Food Forest System is being established. From Geoff Lawton's new DVD "Establishing a Food Forest - The Permaculture Way"
More info: www.ecofilms.com.au

This is one of the little extras from the DVD "Establishing a Food Forest" with Permaculture teacher Geoff Lawton. Whilst Geoff was in Vietnam he discovered a 300 year old Food Forest built on 2 acres of land and still functioning well in the same family 28 generations later.
More info: www.ecofilms.com.au

Quoted from their About page:Permaculture (permanent agriculture) is the conscious design and maintenance of agriculturally productive ecosystems which have the diversity, stability, and resilience of natural ecosystems. It is the harmonious integration of landscape and people providing their food, energy, shelter, and other material and non-material needs in a sustainable way. Without permanent agriculture there is no possibility of a stable social order.

Permaculture design is a system of assembling conceptual, material, and strategic components in a pattern which functions to benefit life in all its forms.

The philosophy behind permaculture is one of working with, rather than against, nature; of protracted and thoughtful observation rather than protracted and thoughtless action; of looking at systems in all their functions, rather than asking only one yield of them; and allowing systems to demonstrate their own evolutions.

Welcome!

Permaculture Ideas is a place to find a range of articles, videos and latest news related to Permaculture.

A vast resource for those looking for an introduction, inspiration or to further their understanding on the matter. Whether you skim the top or dig deep into the archives you'll no doubt be inspired by the wonderful ideas Permaculture brings!

Subscribe below and any new posts go straight to you, making it even easier to get your Permaculture Ideas!